Community

Two people are dead and two taken to the hospital after a single-car accident on South Tongass Highway.  Deputy Police Chief Josh Dossett says the Ketchikan Police Department received a call at 9:05 p.m. Monday night reporting an accident just south of the Coast Guard Base.

“A single vehicle was traveling south when it left the roadway and struck the rock embankment on the land side of the highway.  There were four individuals in the vehicle.  Two of the individuals were deceased at the scene.  The other two were transported to the Ketchikan hospital for treatment,” Dossett says.

The driver, 31-year-old April Arland, was killed, along with 16-year-old Kiana Seierup.  16-year-old Christine Demmert and 14-year-old Royce Trout survived the crash.  Both we flown to Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage.

The conditions of the survivors were not available, but Dossett says both were alert and able to speak to police Monday night before being transported to the hospital.

Debris from the accident was strewn across the highway, and the front of the vehicle severed off.  Dossett says speed was likely a factor in the accident, but further investigation is needed.

“We won’t know whether or not alcohol was involved until we get the toxicology back from the medical examiner’s office.  The two deceased will be transported up to Anchorage where an autopsy will be done,” Dossett says.

Dossett says the investigation is being led by Police Sergeant Robert Cheatam, an expert on traffic accident fatalities.  Dossett says in addition to witness statements, the police will be looking at information gathered at the scene.

“We had the Alaska State Troopers assist us in mapping the scene with the total station, so we will put a diagram together.  We will follow up with interviews with people who maybe saw or talked to the people prior to them leaving in the vehicle.  Anyone who did witness the accident and hasn’t spoken to the police, we’d appreciate them calling the police department.  And then we will follow up with the two people in the car once they are able to talk to us,” Dossett says.

In addition to the Ketchikan Police Department and Alaska State Trooper personnel, Ketchikan firefighters and other emergency responders assisted at the scene.

Humanitarian groups in Juneau are bustling to help anyone in need with Thanksgiving preparations. Social service agencies also are reaching out to assist with people displaced by the recent Gastineau Apartments fire. Thanksgiving preparations will wind down after this weekend, just in time for the organizations to open their doors to Christmas donations and volunteers.

Organizations and individuals across the city are preparing food boxes for families in need. The Salvation Army will host a community meal from 11:30 to 2:30 on Thanksgiving Day at the Hanger on the Wharf. Captain Donald Warner says nearly 500 people attended last year.

[quote] “Nobody went away hungry,” Warner says.[/quote]

The Southeast Alaska Food Bank supplements local agencies’ food basket preparations. On Saturdays the food bank also opens up to families and individuals who need food, toiletries, cleaning supplies or pet food. Manager Darren Adams said last Saturday was particularly busy, with 70 people stopping by, each leaving with an average of about 25 pounds of goods.

“A lot of people are feeling the pinch of how to pay your bills and provide food and make it all work,” Adams says.

The Juneau branch of the nonprofit organization Saint Vincent de Paul has been providing food baskets for about 20 years. General Manager Dan Austin says the organization expected to give out up to 450 food baskets this week. Austin says in the past St. Vincent’s has supplied about 300 Thanksgiving boxes, and has not been able to reach everyone in need.

“One of the things that happened this year because the need is more than usual,” Austin says, “one of the major donors of the food, she simply said I’ll pay for it all but you have to guarantee that no one gets turned away.”

Glory Hole Executive director Mariya Lovishchuk says more people are looking for shelter now than in previous years, because the homeless population in Juneau is aging, and many are having trouble with the physical strain of constantly moving camp. The Glory Hole and Salvation Army say Juneau homeless residents spend a lot of time on their feet, and could use socks.

The Glory Hole is selling tamales this week to repair rot damage to the shelter on South Franklin Street. Glory Hole employee Eleanor Gallendo travelled to California for ingredients, and restaurants El Sombrero and El Zarape worked with volunteers to make the tamales. In the next couple of weeks, the shelter will finish renovations – the unexpected repairs cost $10,000.

Lovishchuk says the shelter will provide about 200 Thanksgiving boxes to families in need. Each box contains a turkey and all the trimmings, as well as pie.  A week ago, the Glory Hole had only two turkeys on hand, but since then donations have poured in to fill the shelter’s freezer.

“And I was standing at the counter, and I was buying the turkeys, and I was about to swipe the card to get them and I had 530 dollars’ worth of turkeys,” Lovishchuk says, “and this amazing woman just actually grabbed my hand and purchased all the turkeys. It’s just really, really amazing all the community support we’ve been getting.”

Some victims of the Gastineau Apartments fire are also still seeking aid and permanent housing at the beginning of this holiday season.

St. Vincent’s  Austin says 43 households were displaced by the fire. Austin says the Juneau Homeless Coalition, a collaboration of 21 agencies that provides rental assistance, is seeking housing for fire victims. Austin says St. Vincent de Paul converted a common space to emergency housing at the Mendenhall Valley shelter, and some households found housing at Gruening Park Apartments.

Agencies stress they seek donations year-round.  Austin says the waitlist for rooms at St. Vincent de Paul is 145 names long, making the need “worse now than it’s ever been.”

The Christmas season is the next hurdle for Juneau families in need. Both Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul are offering “Adopt a Family” services, allowing Juneau residents to provide Christmas presents for children. The Salvation Army’s Santas will begin ringing their bells across town on Friday.

The Juneau Assembly will not seek a consultant’s input on the likely operating costs of a second sheet of ice next to Treadwell Arena in Douglas.

Berkeley, California based Sports Management Group is already working for the nonprofit Juneau Community Foundation on an analysis of a new ice rink at Dimond Park in the Mendenhall Valley. The firm’s report is due in mid-December. It will look at operating costs as well as the potential for revenue generation and cost recovery. It also will look at how the facility could co-exist with Treadwell.

At last night’s Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting, Assemblyman Johan Dybdahl said the report combined with input from city staff was all he needed to make decision on whether the project should move forward.

[quote]“If we waited for the results of the study by the foundation, it may tell us much of what we want to know, given the study we already did on our own with our Parks and Rec. So, I’d have a hard time supporting this second one at this time,” Dybdahl said. [/quote]

CBJ Parks and Recreation Director Brent Fischer told the Assembly last month that Juneau can’t afford to operate two skating facilities. He also said the city’s long term plans call for a second rink next to Treadwell, and not at Dimond Park.

Assembly member Jesse Kiehl argued in favor of having the consultant do a simultaneous independent analysis of both options.

[quote]“If one of these reviews is to be done, I think they both need to happen. Otherwise we find ourselves in a position of half the analysis moving forward and the other half sitting. And, it leaves us in a position down the road where we I think will be asked to take some action with half the info,” Kiehl said. [/quote]

But with the exception of Assemblywoman Karen Crane other Assembly members did not share Kiehl’s concerns.

Sports Management Group proposed a $5,500 dollar contract with the city to study the second sheet of ice at Treadwell Arena.

The firm’s contract with the Juneau Community Foundation is worth $22,500. It’s being paid for with a $650,000 dollar legislative grant the foundation received earlier this year for planning and design of the proposed rink at Dimond Park. Representative Cathy Munoz, whose district includes the Mendenhall Valley, inserted the money in the state capital budget. City officials did not request the funds, which can only be spent on the Dimond Park project.

The community foundation would like to build the skating rink on CBJ land at the park then turn it over to the city to operate upon completion.

The Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole tonight will get an update on a feasibility study for a proposed Dimond Park Ice Rink.

After getting the go-ahead from the Assembly last month, the Juneau Community Foundation received a proposal from Berkeley, California-based consulting firm The Sports Management Group for “an unbiased and independent” review of a new skating facility at Dimond Park.

According to a description of the study, the consultants were set to begin their research last week. Their report will identify likely operating costs, revenue generation, and cost recovery. It also will look at how a new facility at Dimond Park would affect operations at the existing Treadwell Ice Arena, as well as how the two facilities could work together.

The community foundation received a $650,000 dollar legislative grant earlier this year for planning and design of a Dimond Park Ice Rink. The nonprofit proposes building the facility on city land, then turning it over to the city to operate upon completion. Mendenhall Valley Representative Cathy Munoz inserted the money into the state capital budget at the request of constituents. City officials did not request the funds.

Juneau Parks and Recreation Director Brent Fischer said last month that the city can’t afford to support two sheets of ice, nor is an ice rink in the city’s long-term plan for Dimond Park. But the Juneau Assembly asked for an analysis anyway. Some Assembly members asked that the study include information on a second skating facility next to Treadwell Arena at Savikko Park in Douglas.

The Sports Management Group hopes to complete its analysis of the proposed Dimond Park facility by mid-December. The consultants’ fee to the community foundation is $22,500.

The Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole will get an update on the scope of the study at its meeting tonight at 6 p.m. in Assembly Chambers.

The Capital City had the lowest unemployment rate in Alaska last month.

At 4.3 percent, Juneau’s October rate was unchanged from September and almost a full percentage point below October 2011.

The statewide jobless rate last month was 7.1 percent, well below the national rate of 7.9 percent.

Alaska’s employment picture is affected more by seasonal work than any other state.  The numbers of those seeking unemployment benefits go up every fall and down in the spring.

But state labor economist Caroline Schultz says Juneau typically has a lower unemployment rate compared to the rest of the state.

“We have a less seasonal economy than Southeast Alaska, certainly because of the stability of government jobs and other private sector jobs,” Schultz says, “the perks of having a bigger economy in Juneau than we have in the rest of Southeast, where those communities are subject to much more seasonal changes.”

Skagway is the poster child for seasonal employment. In September, 2.4 percent of the workforce filed for unemployment benefits.  It grew to more than 17 percent last month.

Sitka was another bright spot in the state’s economy last month, with unemployment slightly above Juneau’s, at 4-point-6 percent.

Over the year, the Southeast Alaska economy has grown by 2 percent, according to Schultz, with growth across all industries, and bigger gains in the private sector.

“This is Auke Lake. Auke means small.”

Mary Lou and Charles Gerbi live along the lake shore.They were in the small audience at Thursday night’s meeting on Auke Lake management.

Mary Lou Gerbi submitted a letter to Parks and Recreation officials, reminding them that Auke is a Tlingit word for small.

The 160-acre lake is only nine-tenths of a mile long and four-tenths of a mile wide.  It takes less than a minute to jet ski across the lake at full throttle.

The Gerbi’s are part of the group of residents and boaters involved in the controversy a few years ago that led to current management of the lake.

John Blasco was also part of that group.  He’s been jet skiing there for a decade.

“And the reason why I think we should stay on the Auke Lake is it’s the only fresh body of water we can use. The salt water brings extra risk in my mind,” Blasco says.

Blasco believes some lake area residents want to use last summer’s deadly accident on the lake to end jet skis use.

A 16-year-old Juneau girl died from her injuries when her inner tube collided with a jet ski.  She was being towed by another jet ski.  The police investigation did not result in any charges against a driver, but the city promised to revisit management issues. Auke Lake is owned by the state of Alaska and managed by the city and borough of Juneau.

Blasco was among four at last night’s meeting who said “don’t close the lake.”  He also testified last week at a meeting on the UAS campus that had little public notice, though stake holders were informed.

“I like what’s out there for restrictions.  I just think we need to make sure that their regulated,” Blasco says.

Gerbi also spoke at the first meeting, but last night she declined, instead, submitting her letter to the record.  Gerbi writes that it’s not about closing the lake: “it’s about making it safe for the most users, not just the few powerful ones who can afford such ‘bully’ equipment,” as a jet ski, or personal watercraft.  After the meeting, she briefly talked on tape:

[quote]“I think you have to think of riding your mountain bike at the Indy 500. It would be suicidal. And that’s what it’s like if you swim or kayak or canoe, or paddle board on the lake when the jet skis are out there, Gerbi says. [/quote]

CBJ Parks and Recreation staff will be considering the public comments and letters as they review current regulations, which establish no wake zones and restrict motorized craft in certain buffer areas near shore and a bridge.

Landscape Superintendent George Schaaf says staff also want ideas of how to improve management.

Schaaf says the state Department of Transportation and CBJ are developing a new wayside park near the boat launch, which is likely to bring even more people to the lake.

“Basically it’s going to include permanent bathrooms instead of the portapotties, picnic shelter and a few trail features, and of course a parking area for the trail and for the wayside,” Schaaf says.

He says the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee plans to take up issue at meetings on Nov. 28, Dec. 6 and Dec. 11, which will be the last day for public comments.

Any recommendations for management changes will have to be approved by the CBJ Assembly.

Letters and comments can be submitted to George_Schaaf@ci.juneau.ak.us, or Auke Lake Management, 155 S. Seward St., Juneau, AK 99801.

Ordinance on motorized uses on Auke Lake

Amended Ordinance on motorized uses on Auke Lake – Map of permitted wake area